Market News
Naira falls at official, parallel markets - PREMIUM TIMES
Naira depreciated significantly at both the official and unofficial forex markets amidst EFCC threats on Bureau De change operators hoarding the dollars.
Naira fell against the U.S. dollar at both the official and unofficial forex market on Thursday.
The domestic currency depreciated 0.29 per cent to close at N430.25 to a dollar at the close of business on Thursday, data from the FMDQ website where forex is officially traded, showed.
Before the close of business on Thursday, the naira rose to a high of N415.00 and stooped to a low of N444.00 before closing at N430.25, with $58.39 million recorded as forex supply within this period.
Similarly, the naira weakened further at the unauthorised forex market on Thursday, despite the clamping down on Bureau-De-Change operators hoarding the greenback currency by the EFCC on July 29.
Last week, the EFCC threatened to begin a clampdown on hoarders whose activities are said to be contributing to the exponential devaluation of the naira.
The commission’s chair, Abdulrasheed Bawa, issued the threat at a meeting with representatives of Bureau de Change operators in Abuja last week Friday, a few days after the anti-graft agency’s official successfully invaded a hub of BDC operators in the Abuja Wuse zone 4 black market to arrest currency speculators who are alleged to be massively mopping up available foreign currencies.
During the early hours of Thursday, currency dealers at the Uyo black market said they bought the dollar at N682.00 and sold it at N685.00 to a dollar as against the N675.00 it was exchanged in the previous market session on Wednesday.
“The price later fell this evening to N677.00 and N678.00. I think the EFCC threat on traders is what is causing the currency price to fluctuate,” a currency dealer at the Uyo Udi street black market told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.
At the Abuja unauthorised market on Thursday, exchangers said the dollar was exchanged at N680.00 and sold at N683.00 as against the N675.00 it traded in the previous session on Wednesday.
“The price has been going up and down these days. I heard the EFCC is trying to regulate the market. They want to peg the dollar exchange rate at our market within a particular exchange rate, but I don’t know when that will happen,” a currency dealer at the Abuja Zone 4 black market said.
